Ridgewood NJ, Governor Phil Murphy signed S921/A1545, also known as the “Seinfeld Bill,” which requires telemarketers to provide the name, mailing address, and telephone number of the person on whose behalf the call is made within 30 seconds of a call. In an effort to crack down on telemarketers, the bill takes inspiration from a scene in the hit NBC TV sitcom, Seinfeld.
Trenton NJ, Legislation introduced by Senator Sam Thompson would hang up the phone on telemarketers hiding their identities by spoofing the name or phone number displaying on caller ID.
Trenton NJ, A bill sponsored by Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick requiring telemarketers to provide the contact information of their employer within seconds of a call is another step closer to becoming law following Assembly approval today.
Jon Bramnick
“People are bombarded every day by annoying telemarketing calls,” said Bramnick (R-Union). “When a person sits down to dinner or is relaxing after a hard day’s work the last thing they want is to be interrupted by an anonymous call for a product they have no interest in.”
Bramnick’s bill (A1954) requires a telemarketer to provide customers with the name, mailing address, and telephone number of their employer within 30 seconds of making the call. The bill aligns state law with federal law. Violators can be penalized. The Federal Trade Commission collected $120 million in fines last year.
“People on the federal Do Not Call list deserve to know who exactly is calling them so they can report any violations,” concluded Bramnick. “Telemarketers need to know there will be consequences for ignoring the law.”
There were 4.1 billion robocalls, including telemarketing calls, received in May alone nationwide, up from 3.3 billion in April. That’s more than 1,500 robocalls every second of every minute of every day, seven days a week, according to the YouMail Robocall Index, which estimates monthly robocalls in the U.S.
Telemarketers beware: Bill would create unit to investigate fraudulent calls
TRENTON — New Jersey would have a group of investigators tasked with looking into telemarketing fraud under a bill making its way through the Legislature.
The state Senate’s Community and Urban Affairs Committee today approved a bill (S247) to establish a “telemarketing fraud investigation unit” run by the state Division of Consumer Affairs.
The unit would investigate consumer complaints about calls from callers who ignore the do-not-call list, block their information from caller ID, call after permitted hours and “other such consumer complaints related to telemarketing practices as determined by the director.”
“The technology is more sophisticated, and the number of telemarketers who have been breaking the law has been growing,” said state Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), a sponsor. “There are two levels of fraud. One is they’re breaking the law by calling when they shouldn’t be… And then secondly, what they are doing at times is fraudulent. It’s a fraudulent product or fraudulent practice.”
Rob Nixon, a lobbyist who is director of government affairs for the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association, said the organization does not make telemarketing calls, but is often blamed for “fraudulent” groups that do make calls and purport to support New Jersey police officers. (Friedman/Star-Ledger)
